Melbourne’s hottest spot for a drink is back with a new name, new fit-out, new menu, new chef and new just about everything else you’d want from a rooftop bar. It’s all part of a massive three-month reinvention of the space, and those primo downtown vistas aside, things are looking very different upstairs at Hyde Melbourne Place.
The menu leans Eastern-Mediterranean with chef Jordan Clavaron bringing his creds over from Society and more recently, Cutler. That looks like plenty of one-plate wonders on the snack front – including grilled haloumi, spicy lamb cigars and seafood direct from the grill – before moving toward slow-roasted vegetables and meats, and one cracking wagyu kofta already proving a hit with lunch and dinner diners.
And Cleo has called on someone with just as impressive a pedigree as Clavaron. Beverage operations manager and sommelier Matthew Jensen has spent time by the bottles at Vue de Monde and Farmer’s Daughters before steering the ship at Cleo, where he now calls on excellent local producers including Avani and Lethbridge to lead the wine list. Cocktails come correct and classic, and at times with a Mediterranean bent: see his milk-punch spin on one of Melbourne’s most ubiquitous cocktails, the Espresso Martini, for more.
It’s far more than a fresh lick of paint on level 12 of Hyde Melbourne Place, too, with Ennismore, the global group behind the hotel, bringing in their in-house studio for the refit. The bones of the bold and bricked architecture remain, while soft linens, rich jarrah wood finishes and greenery around every corner bring out the best of the space.
And while you’d be remiss to miss a drink at sunset at Cleo, there’s plenty of other ways to make the most of the space: local pilates studio Peaches Pilates takes over on Saturday mornings throughout January and February, and after dark, meanwhile, Untitled Group jump behind the console with a stellar roster of local DJs such as Edd Fisher, Lilian & Monique Tya and Baby G.
Cleo, Hyde Melbourne Place, Level 12, 130 Russell St, Melbourne CBD, cleomelbourne.com.au, @cleomelbourne